The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[Anonymous]

Noah -

Missed your pictures the first time I posted here - very, very nice!

Great night shots of a cool prototype - I'd love to see a HO version of that engine decked out with lights!

[Anonymous]

wow a model one? thats a small fortune in grain of rice LED's[:D]. and wiring it would be hell on earth, probably draw a lot of current too. but it sure would look neat

[Anonymous]

Afternoon All <Jim tips his hat> [C):-)]


Teffy [:)]

I took notes. [:D] (Have to now, too many posters, too much to read, too EASY to forget [B)] )

Joe

What a deal ! ! ! FREE, can't beat that with a stick. [;)] You lucky duck. [;)]

Fergie [4:-)]

Any ideas as to type of vessels and armament? <Jim doing his best Tool Time impersonation, "Guns, Guns, Guns, arggg, arggg, arggg."> I am sure if you get "guns" that all of my fellow clubber join me in the wi***hat you never have to use them to fire a shot other than for ceremonial purposes or practice.

Robert

Great news about your dad. I am sure that the prayers from your forum family helped. We are always ready to do our part.

Chris

So what did you think about the deer/squirrel video? That little guy was hacked off wasn't he? lol [;)]

Warthog (WH)

Lucky guy, getting to play and blow up things. The A-10s are an awesome looking plane. I like them. [;)]

Noah

Nice photos of the Christmas Train. I agree with Ed, send them to Bergie. They are definately Photo Of The Day photos. [:)]

Ed

Hi [:D] We are suspose to have below freezing weather here this coming week. I would be more than happy to share some with you.

Robert/Phil . . . about those rats [B)]

Year ago I came home to find my dog (then it was Sasha <RIP>) wanting me to check under the couch. When I did I saw a big black rat. [:0] I chased it around the house with a pitchfork until I came to my senses. [:0] [B)] As much as I wanted to kill it, I thought better of stabbing it in the house. So opening the door and chasing it outside where it finally met "the fork" was a better alternative. [:p] [;)] <Lunch anyone?> [:D]

Well I only took notes from this page so I probally still have missed something to chat about. [:(] The computer was "sick" last night and I wound up doing a reformat and recover, therefore, once again I have lost all the great photos you people have emailed me. [:(!] [:(] [V]

Well I am thinking about making supper so off I go. Man does not live by just "thinking" about supper. [:p] [;)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:
Warthog (WH)

Lucky guy, getting to play and blow up things. The A-10s are an awesome looking plane. I like them. [;)]

Yes, I do consider myself very lucky, sometimes I'm close to pinching myself to make sure it's not a dream...something I've wanted to do since I was a little boy, and now I get to do it for real!

Most of my fellow 'Hawg drivers' and I wouldn't refer to them as awesome looking, but rather, 'Ugly - but well hung!'

To get back on topic, being an A-10 pilot has its railfanning perks, too. We're one of the only platforms slow enough to go low-level just about anywhere that isn't too populated, which leaves most of Pennsylvania open for play. Doing some 'recon' of the ex-PRR middle division from 500 feet is a LOT of fun! The heat generated by locomotives makes them awesome targets for IR Maverick missiles, too...but again, I digress.

Model railroading really is a large hobby, and it's a smaller world than you might think. I never said anything to my squadron mates about being into it for fear of being labeled a 'train geek' (believe me, being in a fighter squadron is akin to the middle-school days sometimes). Wouldn't you know it, six of us packed onto an Army King Air to go pick up some jets from another base, and a senior Lieutenant Colonel pulls out some magazines to read. One of them was Model Railroader, the other was Railroad Model Craftsman. Needless to say, we had lots to talk about on the ride out to Michigan - and since it was a Colonel, no one gave us any flak for being 'train geeks'!

I guess you could say until then, I was a closet train geek! [:D]

[Anonymous]

Afternoon all. The weather is getting cooler down my way. Supposed to warm up to about 70, then, in the 50's this week. It will be in the 30's at night before next weekend. brrrrr!

Noah: thanks for the advice. I'm gonna need help, for my picture is ready to be shown. As for a scanner, I don't have one, yet. Gonna get on, though.

egmurphy: At first, I did draw it by hand. Then I went and drew it using, paint.

I've been given advice from some of you about posting pictures on here. Will you please e-mail me and walk me step by step through the process. My technical understanding of all this is not the best.[#wstupid], myself.

Guy's, let's get that [xx(]rat. Be a part of my posse. We will need to do some patching of my house, to keep the other rats out. It's a direlect (aka, poor man's special) house. You can see the ground, and the sky from within. And, there aren't any skylights in it.

Warthog: [#welcome] to the club (shop).

CPM: FREE! stuff, [8D]. I like free stuff.[;)][:D][swg]

I'll go for now. Got to walk the dog.

'Til later, Robert

[fec153]

Noah- nice camera work. Thanks for sharing. Follow up on the advice for submitting them for 'photo of the day.

Warthogdvr- I'm considered a "Damn Yankee". Been in Florida since '43. Came down from Conn. and New York. Wont go back. Hate the ice and slush.
Happy landings and mrring. Seasons best wishes.
Flip

[Anonymous]

sNoah [:D] et al [:)]

This one's for you. (No, it's not a bud) [;)]

http://www.justsaywow.com/funpages/view.cfm/6639

[egmurphy]

Afternoon Coffee Clubbers

The weather stayed nice, although as I expected it did warm up much more than predicted. It’s in the low 80’s now. But based on Teffy and Robert’s report of low temperatures in south Texas I’m hopeful of a breakthrough down here soon.

QUOTE: pedromorgan: …could one of you that had a bombardier double decker commuter car or a large double decker superliner please just measure the height from rail level for me?

Peter, I’ll give you the same advice I’ve given others. There’s no problem with asking that type of specialized question here on the Coffee Shop, but just remember you’re dealing with only a small subset of the total General Discussion Forum population. Chances are good none of us have that particular car. Try posting that as a separate post by itself. Be sure to pick an appropriate title, like “Bombardier Double Decker Commuter Car”.

Was the T-Nut description sufficient for you?


Hey warthogdrvr, welcome aboard. Guess we’ll have to keep using your screen name, as we already have one other Chris on here.

QUOTE: Arm-chair modeler here; just coming out of a 15-year break in active modeling.

Why does that sound like a familiar story???

QUOTE: Now we've moved to our permanent residence…

Famous last words………..

QUOTE: If there are any other modelers in the Reading area who read this and need another operator on their layout, I volunteer!

Same advice as I gave to Peter. No problem with posting that here, we all like to get to learn more about the modelers who hang out here in the cozy, clubby confines of the Coffee Shop, but you’ll have a better chance of tracking down someone who lives in your area if you ask that same question out on the forum.


Whoa, some strange goings on here with Jim chasing rats around the house with a pitchfork and Phil sniping at mice with a pellet gun.


Robert, if you already have the logo in paint, you don’t need to scan it. Your first step is to open an account at a photo hosting site. I recommend Rail Images. Go to www.railimages.com and follow the directions to open an account. It’s free. They like donations, but they don’t expect or require it from everyone. Once you have your account open, let us know and we’ll walk you through step 2, uploading the logo file to railimages.


Gotta run guys. Taking junior to see The Polar Express (in Spanish, no less).

Hasta luego,

Ed

[Anonymous]

egmurphy: I just went to railimages.com and opened an account. I believe they said it would take up to 48 hrs before I get a reply. When I do, I'll let you know.[tup]

Robert

[Anonymous]

Jim:
Watching that, you can see where the phrase "squirrelly" came from.[(-D]

Noah:
Nice photos, must be the same CPR train that was on the cover of the last Walthers flyer I got.

One more post till I hit 1000!

Christopher

[CP5415]

Ok!
Good Day EH!

Greetings from the finally Great White North!

After a week's absence, I'M back!

Who ever said getting a puppy would be a lot or work, THEY WERN"T LYING!!!!!!!
UGH!

Nothing new here

Noah, Great shots!!!!!!

Gordon

[Fergmiester]

Good evening everyone

Noah: very nice! good exposure and lighting I guess you and the other younger crowd must be chomping at the bit for school to get out for Christmas break. Well have a good one and hopefully you won't be shovelling snow everyday you're off.

Another flyboy Oh good gawd. What's that three now?

Welcome Warthog! Consider your self lucky as I'm partial to the A-10 in fact the old Sierra A-10 computer game was one of my favourites. I've made a couple of models of them. So I guess the first one's on me!

Bob and Tom: You'ld be proud of me! Hauled out the track and laid it out on the deck and learned how to program and set up MU's[:D]

Bob: Not being an Xspurt on the subject but you may want to look at complex carbos instead of simple carbos. such as multigrain breads, pastas and the likes. If I'm not mistaken they are better for you as they keep you filled up for longer and don't release the sugar into the body as quickly. If you like rice try the long grain and brown rices as they are less processed and again harder for the body to break down. Again I'm no expert so ask your Dr.

I've programmed the Aethern Mike as well as the BLI Heavy Mike, look'n good boys!

Luct: the approaches wouldn't have been fit today so it looks like tomorrow after breakfast, hopefully the fog will have lifted.

James: I'm not a lover of guns, though I like A-10's (go figure) but in this day and age they are becoming a reality. The number I've heard is 150' patrol vessels. Personally if this is correct then I'd say someone is off the mark, especially as WWII Corvettes were 205' in length and were based on a Noprth Sea Fishing Trawler design. Anything smaller for Offshore work would be a mistake! History has proven me right on this one!

Well time to clean up as I have track to pack and Rolling stock to stack as I painted 26 cars today

Ore cars are now orange
Hoppers are black
Cabooses are forest green
everything else is Nova Scotia red (Red Oxide)

Good Night
Fergie
[zzz]

[Paul W. Beverung]

Warthogdrvr; Welcome Bro. Great to have you back in the fold. I am one of the other pilots/former pilots that Fergie refered to. I flew helocopters in the Army a millon years ago. I flew UH1-Ds in Vietnam, OH 23D, UH1A,B,and C in flight school ( does that date me ). I flew TH-55s and TH-13Ts as an instructor at Ft Wolters Tex. My last big deal was getting IP qualified in the AH1-G Cobra. That was a hoot. I get nervious flying in something that the wings don't go round over my head. Now you can do some nice railfanning from the air in that starched wing, but for real good looking you can't bet a helo. Need a second look? Just stop and back up. It's been 32 years now and I so do miss it. Again welcome and if you want to traid war stories just E-mail me and hang on tight. When I was in I managed to keep modeling. I built a 3 piece modular layout that fit into a foot locker while I was in flight school. The Tacs didn't see it untill I had completed primary. By then they couldn't do much more that shake there heads sigh. I also built 2 layouts in Viet Nam. Not large but enough to keep me sane. Well as sane as a chopper jock can be. Take care and remember air speed, altitude, and attitude airspeed, altitude, and attitude.

Flip; I think that the article on the TRE was in Trains. I can't think of the issue though.

Fergie; As I've heard those Corvetts were rough sea boats. Very wet too. I assume that you carrey some small arms on board. Have you tried pulling anything with your Athern 2-8-2? I need to try it on the grade to the ore yard with a string of ore cars.

Well you all have a good night, and Smothe sailing for those who are going to be doing that.

Paul

the Duluth, Superior and Southeastern

" The Superior Route "

[der5997]

Hi folks. It's past bedtime, and so I'll try to be quick.
Some pages back, someone asked do your non mrr friends tolerate you as a model railroader, or something like that.
Well, since this is Christmas time, presents from non rails tend to be non-prottypical, but train related. I've got a little collection over the years, and now they are the Christmas Decorations for our bathroom!


Erdle, I've emailed you a bit more detail to follow on from Ed, whose post I had not come across at that time,just your request for information.

Warthog, sounds like you wouldn't know a tank from a hole in the ground[}:)][(-D]

Goodnight all, God Bless.

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: Robert: I just went to railimages.com and opened an account. I believe they said it would take up to 48 hrs before I get a reply.

That's their standard disclaimer. Usually they activate it the next day.

Okay, we'll stand by until you tell us you're activated.

Ed

[egmurphy]

By the way, The Polar Express was a hoot! The kids (jr and niece, 14 & 12) really liked it. The wife screamed more than the kids. I liked the train animation. Absolutely great detail, right down to the controls in the cab. Looked like a Berkshire (2-84) but I'm not sure. It's amazing what they can do these days.

If you've got kids and they haven't seen it, they should.

Hasta mañana,

Ed

[JimRCGMO]

Evening All (Good night for a warm mug of the caffeine),

[#welcome] Warthogdrvr! Just make sure you don't hit the railfans if you set off a Maverick in the way of any trains...[;)]

Joe - Great luck on the engine freebies!

Hey Ed, I knew about T-nuts (mostly 'cause I'd been reading about layout supports a day or two ago)! [:)]

Peter, if that Mac keyboard is from this side of the pond, you should get the Sterling by pressing the Option key and also the 3 key at the same time. Of course, if it's actually a British/Aussie (or Canadian?), that may be a different matter.

So Flip , one extra hour is plenty, huh? What happens if you get a full 8 hours?

Noah - excellent pictures! So do they have an extension cord from the diesel engine for switching runs? [;)][8D] I kind of like the idea of a model with that, though. But couldn't it be done with fiber optic and fewer bulbs, putting colored acetate or such for the different colors of light? Just an idea.

Jim, are you talking about rat-kabob? Sounded like it.[}:)][;)][:D]

Fergie, good that you're getting online some while you're 'out'. After reading about Lisa's "help", I understand why the tree looks so good! Give our compliments to Lisa when you get back home. All that with her not feeling great, even! [bow]

Didn't get as much done on my MR stuff today. Went by our local bookstore to do some pencilwork and sort out which buildings that I already have I want to go where in the layout. However, about every few minutes, it seemed like someone else in the area of the chair I was sitting in had their [soapbox][censored] cell phone going off (with some overly loud, overly long tunes...) (mutter, mutter...). After I cool down, I'll tell you what I *really* think about obnoxious cellphone users... (and we won't talk about the one who try to drive at the same time)...

Will get going pretty soon now. But I get to sleep an extra hour in the morning (Don't tell Flip - he'll be jealous)[;)] Our church moves into the new sanctuary this weekend, and because it's bigger, we're going back to only two services on Sundays. (Supposedly the new place will hold about 900 at a time. Saw a bit of it on the local evening news, and it didn't look as huge as I'd expected. The building committee worked with the architects to keep the 'smaller feel to it'.[#offtopic]

I setup the coffepot, so when it runs low, whoever's here just needs to put water in it and start it back up. Fresh grounds, new filter, the whole shebang!

Blessings on your weekend and happy RR'ing,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[krump]

I'm up for a mocha.

Today while checking out a pawn shop looking for my mom's recently stolen jewelry etc, I came across (FIRST TIME EVER) a box of HO train stuff - they had it at $40 Cdn initially ( I never saw that sticker), marked it down to $25 Cdn, so naturally I offered $20, and managed to take it home. What I bought was 2 cheap bachman engines, 2 bridges, girders, fencing, 16 freight cars (the duplicates will get my "Castaway Railroad" roadname), a power pack, couplers, several handfuls of track (some nickel among them) and misc parts and pieces... I though it was worth it. Now the kids can wrap it up to give to me...[:D].

I then spent the afternoon hours (12-4) at the Model RR club, located in our local shopping mall - apparently the Christmas Retail time has started as we had a busy day with over 350 visitors over the 4 hrs[^]... our club layout is open to the public each Saturday afternoon, all year - and also over the Christmas shopping hrs.

sNoah - the driveway is still waiting. If you get here before Friday, I might be able to get out through all the snow to see the Holiday Train myself (come to think of it, had you just jumped on the train, you'd be arriving here WITH it this Friday... what were you thinking?) Great Photos

fec153 - what's wrong with having a left handed monkey wrench? I have one, works fine

RDL Kirby - I can join you in the rat Posse... I have a slingshot, a left-handed monkey wrench, and a snowball.

Teffy and Flip - see the emails

Fergie - happy sails to you, till we (train)meet again...

Merry Christmas everyone, happy belated Sinter Klaas Lupo!

Have a great Sunday all.

[pedromorgan]

£ aah there it is!!!!!!![:D][:D]

egmurphy - i understand that this is not the place to ask specialised questions but i thought it was too insignificant for its own topic and i thought i would "test the water" in here first. posting a new topic sometimes seems like creating fuss over nothing.

i think i may have ruined my first resin mould [:(][:(] evrything was going great untill i poured the second half of the mould and suddenly realised i had forgotten the release agent. [:0] after quickly pouring out all the latex and trying to clean of the first half (for those of you that havent worked in latex. it does not dilute in anything and just creates a horriable mess when you try and clean it off) i then sprayed the release agent and repoured the latex. god knows if it will work. i should find out when i get home from work in about 5 houres.
i even went out specially to get that release agent and then forgot to use it
[V][V]

[pedromorgan]

i forgot to say i now know what a T nut is! thanks. i think we have a similar thing over here only i think i know it as a crown nut.

p.s. hpw do i edit my messages?- its ok i just found it!

[fec153]

Jimrc- Don't know how I'd feel with a full 8 hours. Here it is, Sunday, and I still awoke at 5:30. Went to sleep about 12 so thats about 5&1/2 hours. It's crazy. Not tired,just finished 2nd cup of joe. It is cold outside. About 40 or a bit below. Flannel shirt and heavy lined jacket with hood for my ears. BRRRRRRR!. Still no Sunday paper. Oh well,
time for more coffee.
Wish everyone a nice day.
Gee, if we had snow here, I could warm up by shoveling it.[:D][:D][;)]. Good excersise.[sp]
Flip

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
Yesterday turned out to be a really good day. Our local MR club held a "Rail Day" festival at the depot in Mineral Bluff Ga. The depot is currently being restored and the festival was to help raise money to pay for the restoration. Several people brought rail speeders (Fairmonts and trailer cars). We had permission from the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway to use the track from the depot down to Murphy Junction for the day. That's about a five mile run each way. The weather was truly uncooperative. The temp never got out of the 30s and it rained off and on all day. We all figured nobody was going to come out in weather like that. Wrong! We had 106 people come out to ride the rails. It turned out to be really good.

The depot was originally built by the Marietta and North Georgia in 1887. The line was taken over by the L&N in the 1890s. It's a pretty little brick depot. A lot of work has already been done. The brickwork has been repaired and a new roof installed. The plumbing, HVAC ductwork and wiring have been installed. New doors and windows are being made. It's going to be really nice when it's done. The club has been offered an interior lease to build a model railroad and use it for our meetings when it's done. That's going to be really cool.

Warthogdrvr, welcome to the coffee shop. Have a cup on me, and enjoy. A-10s are awesome aircraft. Pretty? Well, probably not, but very, very effective.

JPM335, youi're right. Most people are good. We just tend to remember the bad ones and what they've done, rather than all the good that gets done. The good, kind, loving, honorable things that done everyday don't make the news. That's OK, what matters is that they get done.

Noah, Those are cool pictures. I bet the Christmas lights look great whlie it's in motion.
It would make a neat model.

Fergie, outstanding on the Digitrax progress. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I'd better go for now, and get a few things done.
Have a great day, everybody,
Tom

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

No Flip - we leave the north so we DON'T have to shovel snow anymore. It's 58 degrees with a high today of 72.

I worked on the upper loop yesterday until the testing got under way, I'm still about 3' and one switch away from finishing the loop. I've decided that the 28/32 curved switch isn't big enough and I've got room for a 32/36 so I now have to find someone that has one, my local LHS (Papa Bens) doesn't have it.

I'm going to use the 28/32 until I can get the 32/36 so I can fini***he loop. I get to play after church today as most of yesterday was doing honeydos.

It's strange how time change our priorties. I used to test track with a Mantua little six and now I do it with a BLI 4-8-4. I can even find the 0-6-0 to run. If, fifteen years ago, you'd told me I would use that expensive a loco to test new track with I'd have told you how stupid you were. I would have liked to run one of the 2-10-4's but I don't have that much guts as with no scenery and open grid bench work it's 42 + inches to the floor.

Krump:
I hang my left handed monkey wrench in the garage right next to the sky hook.

Jim:
I know what you mean about the cell phones, but at my age I tell them about the vibirate setting like they're to stupid to know about it. I heard one the other day that played "William Tell Overture" (the Lone Ranger part). After they answered I told Stephanie, in a loud voice, that I wouln't have enough nerve to answer anything that sounded like that. In TEXAS it is now against the law to talk and drive unless you have a headset. They can't pull you over just for talking but they can give you a ticket for it if you have done something else.

What does the "RCGMO" stand for?

Fergie:
Thanks for the information, it was new to me. I'll ask him the next time I go in for an apointment. It sounds like you're going great guns (pun intended) with the Digitrax. Do you have any sound yet besides the BLI? When you get to playing with CV 3 and CV4 be sure that you have a lot of track because it changes the rate of accleration and de-accleration and the loco takes forever to respond to the higher numbers. I ran mine into the wall several times. It was on the 15' test track that went from wall to wall

Their has been a lot of discussion about the pulling capacity of the Athearn mike but you're like me, the layout isn't big enough for trains any longer then about 10 - 14 cars so it's a moot point. How did you paint 26 cars in the cold? Or was the engine room the paint booth?

Phil:
That's the bad thing about a puppy. If they were just potty trained it wouldn't be so bad.

Well let me get ready for church.

Ya'll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: Pedro: i thought it was too insignificant for its own topic and i thought i would "test the water" in here first. posting a new topic sometimes seems like creating fuss over nothing.

Trust me on this, there's no topic too insignificant to post if you need info on it. That's the beauty of the forum. Think of it, there's probably a guy lurking on the forum who doesn't post that much because he feels he doesn't have that much to add. But he has a string of those Bombardier cars. Your question gives him a chance to whip out his scale rule and post an answer. You both win.

Let me give you a personal example. A few weeks ago some guy posted loooking for kits for a rotary snowplow and tender made my DimiTrains. These have been out of production for years. By pure dumb luck I had these kits, still unbuilt, that I had purchased back in 1987. What's even more amazing is that I knew where they were since I had recently seen them while unpacking some of my old train stuff. Now a rotary snowplow would be a bit out of place on the Ferrocarril Veracruz Norte, so those kits are now happily being assembled by some guy in Corpus Christi.

Maybe no one will have the answer, but ask away.

Ed

[Noah Hofrichter]

He, He, Ed, you read my mind again, I did just that yesterday. I hope he gets them tomarrow when he gets to work.

Warthogdvr, I had the same thought, but then I got to wondering how you'd get al those little tiny lights lit up, even in HO. Why, it'd be worse in N! I figure the only way it'd be possible would be using a dummy loco, and then It'd just be stationary.

Chris, your right it was! That was my inspiration to get a good picture, I wanted one like that.

Ed, I belive Perre Marquette(sp?) 1225, a locomotive from Michigan, was used. The Current TRAINS, talks about it.

Krump, I never thought of that,I could have rode with Santa on the back all day! Really though, I think that the train you'll see is different from the one I saw. They have three all together.

Well, I got my SD40-2's yesterdy, so I'm happy. There really nice too. Well, I better get going, I got a few more things to do before School again tomarrow (ugh!)

Noah

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by egmurphy

QUOTE: Pedro: i thought it was too insignificant for its own topic and i thought i would "test the water" in here first. posting a new topic sometimes seems like creating fuss over nothing.

Trust me on this, there's no topic too insignificant to post if you need info on it. That's the beauty of the forum. Think of it, there's probably a guy lurking on the forum who doesn't post that much because he feels he doesn't have that much to add. But he has a string of those Bombardier cars. Your question gives him a chance to whip out his scale rule and post an answer. You both win.

Let me give you a personal example. A few weeks ago some guy posted loooking for kits for a rotary snowplow and tender made my DimiTrains. These have been out of production for years. By pure dumb luck I had these kits, still unbuilt, that I had purchased back in 1987. What's even more amazing is that I knew where they were since I had recently seen them while unpacking some of my old train stuff. Now a rotary snowplow would be a bit out of place on the Ferrocarril Veracruz Norte, so those kits are now happily being assembled by some guy in Corpus Christi.

Maybe no one will have the answer, but ask away.

Ed

Ed [:)]

You deserve an "attaboy" for the snowplow. [:D] [;)] Way to go, now how about some Alcos in HO. [:D] Just kidding. [;)] Maybe. [;)]

It is a great day here, the sun is out, no wind, mild temps, too nice (for this time of year) to be indoors. Duchess is enjoying being on her chain, and I am enjoying her being on her chain. [:D] (outside and not bugging me as she is very jealous of the computer) [8D]

Well today I have been experimenting (unsuccessfully) with my photos and making thumbnails and such. I get a lot of requests for my 3985 pics and was trying to make thumbnails to save uploading time. [:(]

It would have been a great day do run some live steam, wish I had some. [:p] (And the land to run it on and play with it.) [8D]

Hey Fly Guys [:p]

Talk about strange looking planes, take a look at the Global Hawk (RQ-4A), made by Northrop Grumman. It looks like a cross between an old German Buzz bomb and . . . well nevermind. Another aircraft that was a complete diaster was the Barling Bomber (NBL-1). The JU-88 was consider slow but would have flown rings around the Barling Bomber's top speed of 95mph [:0] And let's not forget Burt Rutan's White Knight and Space Ship One, truly innovative but somewhat lacking in normal appearance. WE could go back in history and find many examples of "strange looking" planes. Some of them actually flew well, others did not. The "V" tail Bonanza is still a little strange looking but only when you consider the empennage (tail section), but it flies.

Now back to the trains. [;)]

While we are talking about strange looking "items" we should mention the newest creations of EMD and GE. Both have produced a new loco that is not exactly pleasing to the eye. In my book GE has made the ugliest locos that I have seen. On on the other side of the fence, the Alco RSD15 is one of my favorites though, I love that looooonnnnngggg hood. [;)] [:D]

Now as far as lunch, I will have to pass on the rat-ka-bob. [B)] Someone else may have my share. [:p]

Well off to walk the dog. [8]

See ya. [8D]

[Anonymous]

I was going to build my IM covered hopper kit today, but last night I got the [xx(]stomach flu[xx(], and felt too sick to bother this morning. I'm feeling better now, though. Plenty of time to build it though, since I won't be able to paint it until it warms back up.

Noah:
Nice to hear you finally got your SD40-2's, I always did like the W&S's red/gray scheme.

And Finally, I hit 1000 posts![:)]

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon all!

Progress at last, my son just left, we have a table completed [:D] Now I need to paint it then add the foam board and so on.

Steve and I had a great day and his fiancee spent time with Gloria, all and all it was a wounderful day.

And for us lefties:

If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body,
surely this means that left handed people are the only people in their right mind!!!! [swg]

Wish you all a lovely evening.

[egmurphy]

Good Afternoon Coffee Clubbers

It was an absolutely beautiful morning down here south of the border. Probably the best I can remember since last winter. Cool, sunny, light breeze. Giving the a/c a bit of a rest. Warmed up quickly though. By early afternoon the a/c was back on. But I think we’re in for another night without it.

Well it’s been a long time since I could say “How about them NY Giants!”. Looks like it will be a bit longer. They took another one in the ear (or somewhere near there) this afternoon. I think that’s 6 straight losses, I’m afraid to look and check to be sure. Oh well, guess I need a little pain to make up for the Red Sox success this year. By the way,

How about them Red Sox!!!

QUOTE: Cape Girardeau Jim: I setup the coffepot, so when it runs low, whoever's here just needs to put water in it and start it back up. Fresh grounds, new filter, the whole shebang!

Way to go. Great idea. Think I just poured out the last cup, so let me just rinse out the carafe and pour in a new pot of water….. There, that ought to do it. Fresh coffee in a few minutes.

I remember back when I first encountered an office where they had a small kitchen and coffee makers. It was something new to me to have fresh coffee available at any time. Must have been a new concept to a bunch of the guys there, because after a short while one of the secretaries put up a sign over the pot that said “If you’re too good to make it, you’re too good to drink it”. So I learned real quick how to set up the machine for a fresh pot.

QUOTE: Krump: I then spent the afternoon hours (12-4) at the Model RR club, located in our local shopping mall - apparently the Christmas Retail time has started as we had a busy day with over 350 visitors over the 4 hrs … our club layout is open to the public each Saturday afternoon, all year - and also over the Christmas shopping hrs.

That’s great that you have a good location and can have the layout open to the public in a place that’s convenient. Gives you guys an excellent chance to promote the hobby.

QUOTE: Tom: The depot was originally built by the Marietta and North Georgia in 1887. The line was taken over by the L&N in the 1890s. It's a pretty little brick depot. ……. It's going to be really nice when it's done. The club has been offered an interior lease to build a model railroad and use it for our meetings when it's done. That's going to be really cool.

Wow, another club with a great place to build a layout. This sounds even better, being an old depot.

QUOTE: Teffy: In TEXAS it is now against the law to talk and drive unless you have a headset.

They were starting that when we moved last year. Unfortunately, that doesn’t go far enough. It’s not just occupying one hand holding the phone that causes the problem, it’s occupying the mind on the conversation inside of on the driving.


Whoa, congrats Chris on being the newest 4 Star Admiral in the Model Railroader Forum Fleet!!! [bow]
Sorry about the stomach problems though.


New benchwork Luc? Nice to see progress. It would be even better to see some of it around here! Actually, I did get restarted relaying those sections I ripped out a while back.


Amazing how the Coffee Shop has alternating waves of busy posting and almost eerie stillness. I’m assuming a lot of you were tuned in to the football today, because it’s been very quiet.

Well I’m going to take care of a few outstanding items. Catch you later.

Hasta luego,

Ed

[Mikeygaw]

gotta love Christmas... especially when Greenberg's train show comes near you two weeks before hand... picked up An Athearn CSX GP 38-2, an Athearn Amtrak AMD-103, and a P1K Powered Budd RDC